Let me make sure I have this straight, Bjorn is useing teh calander that starts the day the egg is laid, and TWT is going ten days from day old larva, which is actually day 13-14 from the egg laid...... hence the differnces in stated dates.

Let me make sure I have this straight, Bjorn is useing teh calander that starts the day the egg is laid, and TWT is going ten days from day old larva, which is actually day 13-14 from the egg laid...... hence the differnces in stated dates.

That's right. But it's not TwT's fault. He is from Georgia...and you must understand, he only has 10 fingers to count.. :lau:

With your queen system does it require a pc of wax foundation pressed in with the plugs?

It is not really my system. I use the standard Nicot kit. No foundation is needed for the process. The brown cell cups press into the laying box, and once they have hatched larvae, they are just moved to the cell bar which they just press into. It is a good idea to give the cell builder a frame of foundation though if you don't want comb built on and around your cells.

As Bjorn stated, there are many ways and methods to rear queens. You need to pick a method that fits you best, they all have pros/cons.

I like the Cloake method because it relatively simple, not very labor intensive and gives me consistent results. I have a full time job with a hour commute each way, so I don't have a lot of free time. With the Cloake method, I need less than 1 hour each day.

Here is a comment from Harry Cloake's son Russ.

Your comments as to the simplicity and lack of labour involved are very accurate as we used to raise about 2500-3000 cells over a period of about a month from about 16-18 hives and once the system was set up only about 1 hour per day was taken up by cell raising.

I can't speak for the quantity numbers, but I can say the labor time is accurate.

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RobI couldn't think of the name Nicot and I did know that it was a purchassed system. My Jenter system looks just like that with the plugs and box. The directions that came with it say to cut a 4X4" pc of medium brood wax, lay it in the back of the box and press the cell plugs through giving them alittle twist which gives the bottom of the cells on the other side a wax base for the queen to lay in

The Jenter is exactly the same with molded cells on the excluder side. They have been sprayed with wax and are fully drawn depth. What they are saying is by pushing the cups in through wax on the back side it cuts a small disc of wax that lays in the bottom of the cup cells.

I guess I don't understand the purpose of that. Seems like there is the chance that the small disc (and egg/larvae) could easily fall out or stick to the laying box when you move the cell cup to the cell bar frame.

I haven't had any issue with getting a queen to lay in the plain cups if I put the frame in 24hrs prior to confining the queen.

« Last Edit: March 06, 2009, 09:15:28 PM by Robo »

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"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

3 days for a egg to hatch and then he takes out on day 13, if I graft newly hatch eggs (1st day) and wait 10 days then figures to me that me and robo are removing on same day. does that sound right to you?

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THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 YEARS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

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3 days for a egg to hatch and then he takes out on day 13, if I graft newly hatch eggs (1st day) and wait 10 days then figures to me that me and robo are removing on same day. does that sound right to you?

yup guest I would!! maybe thats why in 2 days I check and she is hatched :-P , like I said I dont use a calender, 10 days from the day I graft :-D , in 4 years havent had one hatch out early but did forget a excluder one time and had a marked queen take over the hive and kill all the cells.

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THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 YEARS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new. Amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic